One of the things I remember in high school

 is the time we sent a different kind of kid to represent us at some statewide thing called Good Government Day. Maybe it was Student Government Day. It was long ago and my mind might have slipped a bit.
Back in the day the high school had 4 courses of study. College prep, Business, General Studies and Industrial Arts.

As usual, a lot of people tended to sell the guys in the industrial Arts program short. Actually a lot of the guys that took the Industrial Arts route have done quite well for themselves. Looking back on things the instructors in the shop part of the Industrial Arts program taught wood and metal shop but ours taught more than that. They taught craftsmanship.

While wood and metal skills are valuable, craftsmanship is priceless.

I was in college prep because my mom was insistent that the only way a person could be a success was by getting a degree. She was wrong.

It always seemed that the college prep people got handed all of the goodies and were sent off to represent the school. Generally it was a select few of the administrations pets. It wasn't right but I think it was that way all over.

Since the beginning of time people believe that the best and brightest wind up in college but it really isn't always true. There are a lot of bright kids that opt to make their living on their feet instead of sitting on their asses. I went to school with a number of under rated kids. A number of them went on to excellent useful careers.

It was the time to send someone to Good Government Day and something seemed to grow out of nowhere and took hold and went 
back to where it came from and truly pissed off the administration.

A guy from the Industrial Arts program. (It may have been Business or General, actually) course threw his hat into the ring as a candidate for Good Government Day. Not only was he an Industrial Arts guy but he had a reputation for being a smart ass, too.

Generally his smartassedness was a result of being fairly bright and seeing through some teacher's BS and saying something. Nothing the administration hates more is some kid making a fool out of a teacher.

When word went out that he was running it started as a joke. In an instant it changed from a joke to a mutiny. A lot of us wanted to see what the administration would do if we elected someone that wasn't in their little list of approved school representatives.

He won in a landslide.

I really believe that back then the administration wasn't above stuffing a ballot box to further their little agenda but the results of the election were so lopsided that the administration knew they didn't stand a chance trying to tamper with the election results. It would have seriously incited a riot. I saw one of the administrators look kind of sick.

I remember going up to the guy and telling him, "Now REALLY piss the administration off by getting in there, showing leadership and doing a good job!" He grinned and told me it was part of the plan.

We sent him off and shortly after he returned there was some kind of assembly for one thing or another.

He was called up on stage and it was announced that he had gotten several honorable mentions for various things. It was the first time I recall anyone ever getting any of those accords for that program before. The entire student body went nuts and cheered. We were pretty proud of him. Of course, the administration didn't like him at all.

The look on the administrator's face as he shook his hand reminded me of the Mayor of New York having to give the key to the city to a stinking  wino. He really didn't like to admit that a smart ass from the Industrial arts program was capable of doing  good job of anything.

A lot of people looked at him in a new light and I suppose his teachers treated him with a little more respect. I'll bet you that when they did treat him well they found out he wasn't nearly as much of a smart ass.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY